EDIT: THE OP IS NOW UPDATED
So the embargo is supposed to lift tomorrow but a site has released their preview early so I figured I'd make the thread. Do note that critics had access to a demo separate from the public that allowed to play on the second island of Sonic Frontiers.
Here is the newly released gameplay:
View: https://youtu.be/uiDkwVnNVrY
Embargoed demo impressions:
T3:
Ignore the critics, Sonic Frontiers is fine – and I played it!
Eurogamer:
Hands On: Sonic Frontiers Is a Positive Step Forward That Needs Further Work
Pushsquare:
Sonic Frontiers wrestles with taking the series' essence to the Open Zone
GameInformer:
Sonic Frontiers Is The First Sonic Game I Want To Play Since Dreamcast
Spindash.de:
Sonic Frontiers: Kronos Island und Ares Island im Gamescom Hands-On: Es ist großartig!
GameReactor:
I've played Sonic Frontiers at Gamescom and it's looking much better
Sonic Stadium Interview:
TAKASHI IIZUKA WANTS TO 'CONNECT' THE SONIC UNIVERSES AND CREATE A 'UNIFIED SONIC EXPERIENCE' – SONIC STADIUM INTERVIEW
ActuGaming (FR)
Sonic Frontiers : Notre interview avec Īzuka Takashi de la Sonic Team à l'occasion de la Gamescom 2022
Sixth Axis
Sonic Frontiers Preview – A jam-packed open world, but is it fast enough?
XboxMag:
Sonic Frontiers : On a passé la seconde, voici notre avis sur le jeu de Sega
IGN France
Preview Sonic Frontiers, beaucoup plus fun à jouer qu'à regarder
CGMagazine:
Sonic Frontiers Still Doesn't Convince: Gamescom 2022 Preview
DotEsports:
Hands-on: Sonic Frontiers' open world feels dry and empty
An interesting tidbit from the french ActuGaming interview is that they asked Iizuka if a downloadable demo would be made available and the answer is no. I'll also add that their impression was quite positive (and they used to think it looked bad based on the the initial footage).
Here's a reddit thread that has categorized the previews from positive to negative. Some of those are not in english (I left the french ones because I speak french) and, thus, I haven't added to the thread but if you speak any of those languages, you can enjoy them!
Public demo impressions:
GameXplain:
Sonic Frontiers Is REALLY GOOD! 🦔 Hands-On Discussion (Open-World, Controls, Combat & More!)
We PC Gaming:
View: https://twitter.com/SonicHubYT/status/1564058699949293568
IGN Interviewing Random Fans
View: https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1563490501512159233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1563562941542060032%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=
There are other various twitter impressions from fans I won't add right here but they are generally positive. Many of them site the controls as being good.
Q&A twitter thread from the person who wrote the Spindash.de preview. There's a lot of info here:
View: https://twitter.com/Ruki185/status/1564613628468264967
So the embargo is supposed to lift tomorrow but a site has released their preview early so I figured I'd make the thread. Do note that critics had access to a demo separate from the public that allowed to play on the second island of Sonic Frontiers.
Here is the newly released gameplay:
View: https://youtu.be/uiDkwVnNVrY
Embargoed demo impressions:
T3:
Ignore the critics, Sonic Frontiers is fine – and I played it!
Eurogamer:
Hands On: Sonic Frontiers Is a Positive Step Forward That Needs Further Work
Pushsquare:
Sonic Frontiers wrestles with taking the series' essence to the Open Zone
GameInformer:
Sonic Frontiers Is The First Sonic Game I Want To Play Since Dreamcast
Spindash.de:
Sonic Frontiers: Kronos Island und Ares Island im Gamescom Hands-On: Es ist großartig!
GameReactor:
I've played Sonic Frontiers at Gamescom and it's looking much better
Sonic Stadium Interview:
TAKASHI IIZUKA WANTS TO 'CONNECT' THE SONIC UNIVERSES AND CREATE A 'UNIFIED SONIC EXPERIENCE' – SONIC STADIUM INTERVIEW
ActuGaming (FR)
Sonic Frontiers : Notre interview avec Īzuka Takashi de la Sonic Team à l'occasion de la Gamescom 2022
Sixth Axis
Sonic Frontiers Preview – A jam-packed open world, but is it fast enough?
XboxMag:
Sonic Frontiers : On a passé la seconde, voici notre avis sur le jeu de Sega
IGN France
Preview Sonic Frontiers, beaucoup plus fun à jouer qu'à regarder
CGMagazine:
Sonic Frontiers Still Doesn't Convince: Gamescom 2022 Preview
DotEsports:
Hands-on: Sonic Frontiers' open world feels dry and empty
An interesting tidbit from the french ActuGaming interview is that they asked Iizuka if a downloadable demo would be made available and the answer is no. I'll also add that their impression was quite positive (and they used to think it looked bad based on the the initial footage).
Here's a reddit thread that has categorized the previews from positive to negative. Some of those are not in english (I left the french ones because I speak french) and, thus, I haven't added to the thread but if you speak any of those languages, you can enjoy them!
Reddit - Dive into anything
www.reddit.com
So, what does this all mean?
Overall:
- Of the 22 impressions, 14 could be said to be optimistic, 6 as pessimistic and 2 as mixed/unclear
- The biggest point of contention seems to be the "open zone". Depending on who's playing, the open zone could either be dense, substantial and fun to explore, or empty, directionless and boring. This could explain why despite being positive on the games other components, SegaMag's and GamersGlobal's previewers seemed to be pessimistic towards the game as they didn't feel hooked by the open zone.
- Many outlets did complain about pop-in, and some even mentioned frame rate issues
- The Cyberspace levels were enjoyed almost across the board.
- There's a shark boss fight which sounds cool as fuck. That has little to do with the impressions themselves I just wanted to get that out there.
- I placed Eurogamer in mixed/unclear because I really didn't know where to place their opinion, partially because their article doubles as an interview with Takashi Iizuka. I think it's leaning towards positive, though I can't be certain.
It seems so far that opinions of Sonic Frontiers are mostly positive, though praise is by no means universal. The combat, Sonic's controls and cyberspace levels seem to be the most enjoyed aspects of the game thus far, and the open zone seems to be a particularly subjective matter. There are seemingly some technical aspects about the game that need sharpening up before release.
Before I go, I quickly want to mention the public demo as I was also keeping up with impressions there. They seemed to be very positive on that front, moreso than with the closed demo.
And one last thing I want to mention is that the public and closed demos of Sonic Frontiers in total came up to about 45 minutes worth of gameplay at most, providing you got the chance to play both like Ruki from SpinDash did. Sonic Frontiers can take up to 30 hours to beat, and about twice as long to 100%, so these are by no means definitive and final opinions about the game and they are all subject to change. We'll only really know the true quality of the game when it comes out in full. That being said, signs look reasonably positive.
Public demo impressions:
GameXplain:
Sonic Frontiers Is REALLY GOOD! 🦔 Hands-On Discussion (Open-World, Controls, Combat & More!)
We PC Gaming:
View: https://twitter.com/SonicHubYT/status/1564058699949293568
IGN Interviewing Random Fans
View: https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1563490501512159233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1563562941542060032%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=
There are other various twitter impressions from fans I won't add right here but they are generally positive. Many of them site the controls as being good.
Q&A twitter thread from the person who wrote the Spindash.de preview. There's a lot of info here:
View: https://twitter.com/Ruki185/status/1564613628468264967
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